Middle East

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza after rockets fired toward Tel Aviv

Friday 15/March/2019 - 03:59 PM

Reuters - Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas targets in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza early on Friday after Israel’s military said militants had fired two rockets toward the city of Tel Aviv.The air strikes، the heaviest in five months، hit about 100 military targets belonging to Hamas، the Islamist group which controls Gaza، the military said. These included a rocket manufacturing site، a naval post and weapons facility، and a Hamas headquarters، it said.

Palestinian news media reported strikes throughout the densely populated coastal strip that is home to two million Palestinians. Four people were wounded، health ministry officials said.

The Israeli military accused Hamas of firing rockets from Gaza toward Tel Aviv - the first time the seaside city had been targeted since the 2014 Gaza War.

But Hamas denied responsibility and Israeli media، including Ha’aretz and Channel 7 News، later carried reports that the rockets might have been fired from Gaza by mistake.

A security official briefed on the situation، who declined to be identified by name or nationality، told Reuters the launch was “the result of an error - that an attack on Israel was not intended. Israel holds Hamas responsible، hence the response”.

The exchange was the most serious since a botched Israeli commando incursion into Gaza last November.

In the aftermath of that episode، dozens of Israeli air strikes killed seven Palestinians، at least five of them gunmen، and destroyed several buildings. Rocket attacks from Gaza sent residents of southern Israel to shelters، wounding dozens and killing a Palestinian laborer from the occupied West Bank.